Flowers, Badgers upset Texas

Dec 29, 2007 - 11:58 PM
AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- It was a good three seconds for
Michael Flowers.

The senior guard hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds to
play to lift Wisconsin to a 67-66 upset victory over No. 9 Texas
on Saturday.

Almost immediately after his clutch shot, Flowers swooped in and
stole Connor Atchley's inbounds pass to secure the Badgers'
(10-2) fourth win in five all-time meetings with Texas (11-2).

"I always say make sure you throw the ball in the air,"
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "They know they can't call
timeouts anymore, so throwing it in the air and the ball not
hitting anything sealed the deal for us.

Senior center Brian Butch had 21 points to lead a Wisconsin
squad that was without leading scorer Trevon Hughes, who injured
his ankle late in practice Friday.

"Brian is a guy we can throw it back to," Ryan said. "He played
a heck of a game and was involved."

"They rose up and made the shot," Texas coach Rick Barnes said.
"Thirteen offensive rebounds in the second half is going to get
you beat. They shot 37 percent, if we had rebounded, the
percentage could have been lower."

Damion James had a career-high 21 points to lead Texas, which
lost its second straight game after opening the season with 11
straight wins.

Texas held led the game, 65-62, with 1:14 remaining after A.J.
Abrams drained a fade-away jumper.

Bohannon's attempt to knot the game on long 3-pointer with 33
seconds to play bounced off the rim, but Flowers corralled a key
the rebound to keep the Badgers' hopes alive.

After a timeout, Landry connected on a baseline jumper with 18
seconds left to cut the Texas' lead to 65-64.

On the Longhorns' ensuing possession, Abrams was fouled with 11
seconds to play and made one of two free throws to extend the
lead to 66-64.

Following a timeout, Flowers took the ball up the floor and
delivered the knockout punch.

"In any type of game like this you can't really say that you
have the victory locked up at any time," Abrams said. "We were
on a run and then they were on a run. We went out there and
didn't execute our game plan like we wanted to."